General Motors Fans

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Yes, the headlights have gotten too big, and most of it is just reflective jewelry as the actual bulb / area is miniscule. I am glad with the GMs you don't see it as prominent and they're keeping the taillights a decent size, not overly large like on older Lincolns. To me it always seemed they made the taillights Navigator-sized on everything.

With the RWD you just have to take it a bit easier in turns and perhaps stops. Same here, my DD is a RWD pickup, though not as much power as your RAM. Around mid-November or so I keep a constant watch for snow, then day before 1st snow I put weight in the bed then take it out end of season. One of my biggest peeves are the "forgot how to drive in the snow" folks that have lived in a "snow" state for 30 ~ 40 years, but yet can't remember how to drive in it? :confuse:

I'm wondering besides Camaro, Corvette, CTS if there are going to be any other RWD coupes. I'm still longing for them to bring the Ute over but dreams are fading fast...

I saw 3 Cadillacs at the Speedway next to our Chic-Fil-A at lunch. All were wearing camoflage sort of like this:

But each car was different in how much of and which parts of the car were covered. One had black spoke wheels with the center of the wheel completely blacked out--many small spokes. One car had the hood more or less uncovered. But I had no camera with me and didn't think they'd hang around until I could get back to the station.

Each had a different grill appearance. I believe the car with the blacked out wheels had a grayed out grill.

I would have guessed the cars as STS in size, so maybe CTS. But 2014 CTS has already been unveiled. I don't believe they were XTS in size. The drivers were lining them up along the curb on the gas station property parallel with the public road. We're 3 hours from Dearborn down I-75, so I wonder what they were doing. Perhaps it was magazine drivers, experts, driving them as a preview drive.

Cool, too bad it wasn't possible to get a pic, but I've only once been able to snap a prototype out for testing - hard to have good reflexes. I suspect it was a factory test car doing real world driving, or maybe just out looking for attention to generate buzz.

Each of the 3 cars had different wheels and the tires looked different in cross section size. And the grills looked related but different. From that I guessed these were different models of the same vehicle. And to have some differences in how much of the cars were covered by the eye-fooling zebra blocks.

I wish I'd done an improper lane change across the striped area to the left turn lane and gone through the Speedway lot.

Excitement here in flyover country far from GM plants now that almost all GM auto manufacturing (other than a small Delphi operation) has left.

Hey, Imaidazol97, and people who know/remember me, how is it going? I sent you (imidazol97) a link to my Facebook, I guess it was a month or two back but thought since its been forever, I might track ya down here on edmunds.

I am personally super excited about the Cruze Diesel. Gagrice, has sold me on going diesel so next month I plan on trying to sell my car (assuming my market will get the early arrivals as they will be limited) and buy or lease a new Cruze Diesel.

I sure wished the administration would pump some money into getting bio diesel fueling stations up and running. They say you can make bio diesel at a good profit for around $2 bucks a gallon. I really believe if diesel fuel was $2 bucks a gallon you would see a huge demand for diesel cars here. I drive about 49 miles round trip to work so barely over a gallon of diesel fuel would get me too and from work as most of my driving is highway and I bet this car will push the 50 mpg's range or better like the European and Aussie Cruzes are doing from what I read.

I'm getting 25 mpg's in my 2003 Grand Prix GTP and have to run premium so diesel that gets double the mileage will save me money not to mention have the peace of mind of a a worry free new car. Maybe someday I will tell you my big mistake car buying experience with my 2003 but I'm up late on my one day off, lol and work in a UAW shop testing water heater tanks. Monday will be week #3 for me and those so called UAW work rules are fairy tales stuck in the 80's

But perhaps one of these days when they let me out of prison and let me have more than a day off I will hop on here and chat with the old crew. Just wanted to say hello but I do try to check my FB daily when I'm not working OT which they have me scheduled for 60 hours next week :sick:

Hey Rocky, I know it's rough working all those hours, but enjoy that overtime while you can! My company is in the process of making changes that screw us on any overtime that falls within the same period as a federal holiday. :mad: Now, I don't work *that* much overtime, and don't get time and a half, but it's still aggravating.

I actually caught myself saying "We oughtta unionize!" :shades:

Anyway, good luck to you! And I understand the annoyance of having to feed one of those hi-test guzzling, supercharged V-6es. My 2000 Park Ave can get a bit piggy around town, and out on the highway you have to almost drive it like an old lady to get good mileage.

I really appreciate your coming back to post here. I am really glad you have a job that you're happy with.

I too had thought about waiting for a Cruze diesel. I've been looking at cars to replace my trusty 200,000 mi leSabre. The GM cars sure do last. If your 23 mpg is a mixture of stop and go suburban driving with some open road, that may be fair. But I'd expect better even on a supercharged 3800. Is your foot a little heavy enjoying that horsepower? Just asking, grin.

I'm browsing all the cars, Kia, Hyundai, toyota, Honda, Ford, and GM to decide what to buy. I have a choice of a new car now to supplement/replace our comfortable leSabre highway cruiser and to buy a new car. Or I can buy a used car that's less of car as a local car.

There are two good reasons for waiting to replace the highway car and that's the Verano for 14 and the Cruze diesel. If the Malibu had the diesel coming that would be even better.

Nice to see you again, Rocky. Work and save the money! By the time we get a diesel Cruze, you'll be able to buy it outright.

Funny, when I first started working after I graduated, I didn't want to work anything extra - guess I was still tired from school. Now, whenever there is a crisis or someone can't cover a holiday (I work on a network that requires 24/7/365 monitoring) I usually jump at it - money isn't a bad thing. You'll be fine.

nice ta hear from you, buddy. I agree with the rest, keep working and saving. I'm now in southern New Mexico working at a hospital and I'm getting closer (not anywhere near close enough) to retirement, but I am so happy to be working at a place that gives you some creedence and respect. This place is protected with union work rules but there are no union dues nor a union. At least in the Allied Health profession I went to college to get trained in, after my union Boeing job.

Now I hear Boeing is letting 700 more Everett plant engineering people go. Glad ta be outta there. Take care rockylee and post when you get a chance, man. All of us oldtimers wish you well!

Cool to see you back on Edmunds again, Rocky. Hope to see you around more often! Thinking of either a new 2014 Impala to replace my aging Grand Marquis or a new LaCrosse for the wife. She loves her current car and doesn't want to replace it. I was also thinking I'd get her a new ride and keeping her 2005 LaCrosse as our "hooptie."

I'd be happy with a gas Cruze. They are rated 42 hwy and run on the cheap stuff. RUG was $3.16 near NC TN border Monday. That would be equal to 50 mpg for $4 diesel.

I put 1050 miles on my Malibu 2.4 liter over the weekend and was slightly suprised to get 20% over the EPA hwy rating out of it. If I could do as well with a Cruze, that would be over 50 hwy mpgs. Lucky for me, I had a tailwind both going and returning. I have to laugh when I read the 2013 Malibu Eco road test that they got 24.7 mpg average from a hybrid when I got 38.5 trip mpgs from a '10 LT.

I am curious that Indy gas is 69 cents a gallon higher than Knoxville TN. I'll have to remember to leave home with a quarter tank next time.

I have to laugh when I read the 2013 Malibu Eco road test that they got 24.7 mpg average from a hybrid when I got 38.5 trip mpgs from a '10 LT.

I have to laugh that you made that comparison...

With a tail wind I can get easily beat the EPA ratings by 20% in my Expedition too. Yesterday was able to get about 25mpg on a 60 mile trip, but I had a 20-30mph tailwind. In the opposite direction I would have been lucky to get 12mpg.

I have a friend with a Cruze Eco with a manual trans. He is usually in the mid to high 30's for his daily commute, but he claims he's gotten 50 mpg occasionally on the hwy.

The diesel Cruze will have a lot more power, but unfortunately the price premium for diesel plus the additional cost of the diesel engine upgrade will likely negate any fuel efficiency gains. That said, even if it's close to break even I'd prefer the diesel, though I doubt it would save me any money.

>I have to laugh when I read the 2013 Malibu Eco road test that they got 24.7 mpg average from a hybrid

Was the road test over a typical course that's a mixture of suburban driving with lower speeds and stops? I believe your results with your Malibu based on the time I drove a rental and my sister-in-law has used one and filled up before returning to the airport rental.

I've been showroom hopping for months now looking for what I'd want to buy as a next car under several different scenarios. The certified Malibus at local Chev dealers' pre-owned lots really are interesting to me because of the efficiency of the previous generation.

What kind of changes are coming for the Malibu for 2014? I'm not finding much info on what's coming. I can find out what's changing at Verano, one of of my other cars on a list, but nothing for Malibu.

I'd imagine that most road tests aren't a good indication of "real world" mpg, because won't the testers most likely be flogging the cars, putting them through the paces?

CR seems to be fairly accurate with their FE ratings. At least with the vehicles I have experience with.

But yeah, with the enthusiast type rags, they certainly don't usually drive them for max efficiency;)

I filled up this morning, reset my FE computer and drove home on rural roads with the cruise set at 64mph. Had a tailwind of 10 mph or so. The drive home was about 60 miles but I did have to drive through a few towns and stop at a couple of stop signs and I did pass a couple of cars, meaning I briefly sped up to 70-75 a couple of times. My average was 20.9 when I pulled in my driveway. I make this same trip all of the time, usually I drive 75-80 mph out in the middle of farm country and sometimes I have a head wind etc. I usually will average 14.5 - 15.5 mpg. So the wind and my foot can make a big difference.

Drove past a new dark red Impala coming from the other direction today. It at first looked a bit like a new Malibu. I think that color makes it's head on appearance look smaller than it actually is.

As for the 14 Malibu, I just saw somewhere that they set the back seat cushion back and sculpted the rear of the front seats to carve out a bit more space back there. It has a new front end that looks more like the new Impala. I also believe it is going to have the new 2.5L 4 banger drive train that it will share with the base Impala, along with stop/go to improve fuel mileage a bit.

You hit pretty much everything berri, the changes in the seats are supposed to give an extra 1.25 inches rear leg room, the 2.5 with stop/start is supposed to give an extra 1 mpg in both city and highway.You missed the fact that the turbo will now hove 295 lbs/ft of torque instead of 260something.There are also changes to the front end to supposedly bring it more into line with the Impala and SS, and a fw changes to the arm rests and center console.

The certified Malibus at local Chev dealers' pre-owned lots really are interesting to me because of the efficiency of the previous generation.

Just saw mid-week in our local paper, that a small town dealer maybe twelve or so miles from here, still has a '12 Malibu "demo" and a new '12 Sonic. I was surprised by both. Must be a decent dealer, as they survived the 'cuts' of 2009.

Yeah, they flog the cars and then do the write-up saying you really ought to consider the Camry and Sonata instead because this car lacks enough efficiency. See....24.7... Then it turns out even a Prius only saves 2 gallons over a lesser efficient Malibu model than the Eco for over 8 hours on the interstate.

I would give the tailwind credit for 5% of the 20%. I remember getting 37 mpg on a 70 mile loop last summer. With tailwind cancelled out. To work and back my recent tanks show 33-34 which is an easy 20% better than the EPA combined rating of like 25.

12 vs 25 depending on wind? Wow. I remember driving my Astro into a 55 mph headwind once for a two hundred mile run from Indy to Chicago. My mpgs may have dropped from 21 down to 17 but that wind caused my transmission to blow off fluid from a release valve and make a mess of the rear half of the underside of the van. That was a once in a lifetime wind event. They said the jet stream came down to the surface. It was the equivalent of driving 125 mph. Hurricanes Jeanne and Francis (both 2004) were only 120 mph.

I saw a news blip that a 2014 Malibu has been released and it's all new.

That would be the extremes and certainly not the norm. Normal is more like 14-20mpg on the hwy at 75 mph depending on the wind.

EPA ratings certainly can be beat. My wife easily beats the combined 22mpg rating of her Taurus. The fuel trip computer hasn't been reset in several thousand miles. I filled it up the other day and it's showing 26.9mpg and her driving is mixed but more hwy than city. Probably 60/40. Plus she's a lot easier on the go pedal than I am.

I've not got a link, but I seem to recall that the average gas mileage on my car is based on a predetermined limit of miles driven. It does not average over the lifetime of the car even if never reset.

My heavy leSabre routinely will beat the EPA of 29 by 2 mpg on an interstate trip at 70 with 3 adults.

The only EPA rating I haven't beat lately is on the DeVille. I got 24.8 on a 450 mile drive to PA in Feb. Then my son drove it home at 80 mph in a 40 mpg crosswind and the avg fell to 23.5 for the entire 1000 miles trip. But still at least 5 mpg better than my Silverado would get on the same trip and also with a 4.8 liter. Both are also 01's.

Saw a red 2014 Impala Saturday at a cruise-in. 245x40x20 wheels and tires. Looked outrageously trendy. But I loved the Red. I think it was LTZ. I was so excited sitting in it and admiring the feeling of premium car, I forgot to make note from the sticker. I was shocked how the wheels looked like a new Jaguar's that I see around my home area.

I have to account for thermal expansion in my job as a gas turbine design engineer. Parts get bigger as they get hot. I was reading about how the sea level rise is predicted to be 69 feet when Greenland and Mt Everest both get done melting due to global warming. (from a left leaning propaganda source). I just calculated the increase in the volume of the globe if the temperature of it goes up 2 degrees F. A bigger globe would cause the sea levels to fall. Land is better at absorbing heat than water. By volume, the earth is maybe 1% water at best. The result is 2.8 quintillion cubic feet of added water storage space due to the larger size of the earth due to 2 degrees of expansion. That is a volume that is .2 miles thick by 3500 miles by 8000 miles. So I am to believe we should bankrupt our country just in case 2.8 quintillion cubic feet is not enough volume to hold the water melting from Greenland's ice? Last time I checked, Greenland was not 6000 miles across. At 600 miles across, that is a 1:100 ratio in area, requiring greenland's ice layer to be 20 miles thick on average, and become 100% melted to break even on sea level rise. That's only if all this melting can be accomplished with just 2 degrees F of global temp increase.